Hi Gang. Sean,you are correct regarding the original acoustat servo amps. They were in fact, OTL designed servo-amps and employed the 6HB5 tube. They would supply the 5,000 volts the panels required.A brilliant design in their day, but somewhat Quirky and unreliable in stock form.There are a number of companies updating the design with modern parts and circuit mods.Once revised: there is not a commercial amp on the market that could come remotely close to their performance on the acoustat panel.Still use mine[highly modded] on a pair of 2+2's in second system.
Could the transformer be eliminated?
It is desirable to eliminate as many things as possible from the signal path. Output transformerless vacuum tube amplifiers eliminate the transformer, but at a cost of many complications to match to a 4 or 8 Ohm speaker. Gangs of tubes in parallel are certain to corrupt the signal.
But the electrostatic speaker has a much higher impedence, after the audio signal is stepped up by its transformer. Also, no crossover, electronic or passive, would be necessary if it has its own low frequency rolloff around 200 to 400 Hz, where a pair of active subwoofers could take over. With the right amplifier, this would be possible.
Why not build two 45 SET amplifiers that share the same power supply and are fed by a balanced signal. Each 45 anode would be parallel fed through a prodigious choke and between both plates would appear a push pull but altogether class A signal with a peak audio voltage of as much as 200 and an impedence of 10,000 ohms. Then both the anodes of the 45's could connect directly to the stators of an electrostatic speaker and for safety the stators would be covered with plastic.
This would have all the virtues of the 45 SET with common mode distortion and noise removed and the transformer eliminated without the feedback, parallel gangs of tubes, or the prodigious power of OTL amplifiers. The speed of the electrostatic speaker along with the loss of the limitations of the transformer should offer undreamed of refinement.
Do you think it might work?
Barney Vincelette
But the electrostatic speaker has a much higher impedence, after the audio signal is stepped up by its transformer. Also, no crossover, electronic or passive, would be necessary if it has its own low frequency rolloff around 200 to 400 Hz, where a pair of active subwoofers could take over. With the right amplifier, this would be possible.
Why not build two 45 SET amplifiers that share the same power supply and are fed by a balanced signal. Each 45 anode would be parallel fed through a prodigious choke and between both plates would appear a push pull but altogether class A signal with a peak audio voltage of as much as 200 and an impedence of 10,000 ohms. Then both the anodes of the 45's could connect directly to the stators of an electrostatic speaker and for safety the stators would be covered with plastic.
This would have all the virtues of the 45 SET with common mode distortion and noise removed and the transformer eliminated without the feedback, parallel gangs of tubes, or the prodigious power of OTL amplifiers. The speed of the electrostatic speaker along with the loss of the limitations of the transformer should offer undreamed of refinement.
Do you think it might work?
Barney Vincelette